Pepsi MAX® presents a social experiment that calls for reflection on how we show ourselves on social media.
The audiovisual experiment carried out by the filmmaker Claudia Barral focuses on the influence of others on the content we share.
The study ‘We are what we choose’ by Pepsi MAX (NetQuest, September 2020) that is part of the ‘Get wet and choose the best’ campaign reveals that 21% of respondents consider ‘likes’ for their publications important.
Madrid, December 3, 2020 – To date, an estimated 35,000 decisions are made of which only about 100 are fully aware. But do we harness our power of choice in an authentic and true to ourselves, or does the influence of others weigh too heavily? Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of Instagram, Pepsi MAX conducts a social experiment with filmmaker Claudia Barral to see if we really choose how we show ourselves on social media and encourages people to decide for themselves and break with their ‘automatic pilot’.
There is no doubt that the way we look at the world today is conditioned by what we see and share through social media. But to what extent? Pepsi MAX wants to inspire those who seek to break with the routine and make their own decisions. Because there is nothing more satisfying than choosing your own path and thus defining yourself. For this reason, this audiovisual experiment carried out by Barral, recent winner of the Best National Emerging Short Film award by the Emerging Spanish Film Festival, asks how we choose what we publish and how much the gaze of others influences our publications. To delve into the trends, both sociological and cultural, that guide us, the differences that exist between generations and how it enriches us to make our own decisions.
Thus arises a surprising mural of tremendously similar photos that have been shared by disparate users from different places and that invites us to reflect on the weight that the vision of other people has in our own way of transmitting.
“This causes a combination of surprise and also a confirmation of something that I already believed. The power of social media in the way we look at the world. This fact is not negative in itself and the idea with this experiment is to encourage taking those photos that are different and we have saved. We all have a look and a way of seeing things. You just have to remove it.” explains Barral.
At a time when the power of choice, especially of the younger generations, is so broad, it is worth wondering if that decision-making capacity is transferred to social networks and therefore if we really show who we are and what inspires or uses us the autopilot of comfort in choosing what to follow and what to share.
“I believe that through different platforms we can inspire ourselves and be inspiring to others. As I do my work day by day, the key is to transfer what moves you, what generates feelings in you, and it is that transparency and sensitivity that we will transfer to others ”, says the filmmaker.
Study “We are what we choose, also in social networks?“
This social experiment arises from the Pepsi MAX study ‘We are what we choose’, prepared by NetQuest (September 2020) and which is part of the ‘Get wet and choose the best’ campaign with which people are encouraged to decide for themselves and break out of ‘automatic pilot’. The study has had the participation of more than 2,000 citizens residing in Spain between the ages of 16 and 55, and, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Instagram, they wonder if the content shared by that 85% of Spaniards who claims to use social networks daily is original or the search for ‘likes’ influences too much.
The data obtained is eloquent, only 17% affirm that the ‘likes’ are important compared to 83% who do not see them as relevant, although, yes, the highest percentage of those who do grant it importance are among the youngest; in the age range between 16 and 35, ‘likes’ are important for 21% of those surveyed. That detachment may have to do with the fact that this interaction is not interpreted as sincere. It is precisely these same young people who distrust his honesty the most; Almost 7 out of 10 under 35 think they are not sincere compared to 5 out of 10 over 35.
But yes, 4 out of 10 children under 35 years old confess that they publish content on social media that they know their followers will like in order to obtain ‘likes’. A figure that drops to 3 out of 10 people when they are over 35 years old.
Who do we follow on social media?
70% of the people we follow on social networks are friends and family and 20% are people we do not know but who have similar tastes to ours. The youngest, between 16 and 35 years old, are the most likely to follow profiles with a large number of followers, mainly influencers and celebrities, while as age advances, interest in these types of accounts decreases, from 34 years old this data ranges between 0.5 and 1%.
Likewise, millennials are the ones who most believe in social networks as a means of finding people related to their tastes and interests, specifically 50% compared to 30-35% in which subsequent generations move.
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